A few weeks ago, I was down to 244 - my lowest since hitting my all-time low (in 10 years) of 243. Since then, I've been eating everything in sight. Nightly ice cream runs, REGULAR soda, iced coffee with cream and sugar, and pastries galore. What happened? I lost weight, and then I went crazy!

I weighed myself this morning, and I'm back up to 248. What did I do? I had three pieces of pizza for lunch and a regular Coke. AWFUL! I can't seem to get back on track. I can't even bring myself to change my current weight on my signature.

I haven't been to this site in ages, and I figured that you gals - more than anyone else - would get where I was coming from. I feel so miserable today. How did you gals get back to losing weight after a month of binging?

Laura

WOW only a few pounds up after being off track! That is an accomplishment! All is not lost, just jump right back to what you know works and do it with health and wellness in mind.

So you have been consuming everything in site, and you are only back up a few pounds. That is worthy of a great big THANKS GOD! So, not too much damage done. What is your diet plan? Did you get bored with the plan you were following? Maybe you need to get a new plan. When you are doing something over a long haul, the plan needs to be safisfying and get you some quick results. Oh, And the weather is getting awesome, so a great time to get some walking in. Just gentle walking to start making you have that "I CAN DO THIS" attitude again. Come on, do it! I am doing MRC -- love it.

Find someone or something to be accountable too. Whether that's our Binge-Free Challenge thread, a friend who's also trying to lose weight, or some sort of support group. Whatever works for you. I hit my goal weight of 155 last August and then gained 30lbs back through binging, no longer weighing myself daily. At one point I thought I could hold myself accountable, but I just couldn't get in that mindset again. It took me joining WW and going to weekly meetings where I am being weighed in regardless of excuses or my eating behavior. Just knowing I'm weighing in on Thursdays provides that accountability for me. Eventually, I'd like to learn to be accountable to myself...but that's something I'm going to have to learn slowly. I hope that makes sense and helps, haha

isn't it so odd how sometimes weightloss will trigger a binge? i mean what is it about us that needs to rebel when we start getting a groove going? it's so frustrating! i was trying to hold myself accountable by weighing in everyday, but i started making excuses as to why i shouldn't (bloated, water weight, etc) im sure hitting your lowest weight in 10 years was pretty great for you, though! think of how it will feel to hit another milestone! hang in there!

OMG I totally know how that goes... I have often used weight loss as an excuse to live it up or as a gauge of how I should generally feel about myself. I don't know if this will work for you, but it's been really helpful for me. In the past, I've lost weight really hardcore, only to slip up, fall back into old habits, and gain it all back. This time, I'm training for a half-marathon, which gives me a totally different goal to focus on. The weight loss is happening very slowly, but it's a side effect of the training and watching my calories. Even though I've only lost a few pounds in the past month (as in, 3 or 4 pounds) I've dropped more than a pants size and I FEEL so much better. That's motivation for me to watch what I eat. After the 2 half marathons I'm signed up for, I'm going to focus on losing 10lbs (a lot of runners find it hard to lose weight when they're training for a really long distance race because we get sooooooo hungry and it's so hard to stay within "training calories") and then start training again for another half.

The point of all that is, maybe you'll be more successful if you pick a goal that's not focused on weight loss, but weight loss will happen. And it doesn't have to be a really serious athletic goal. It could be, "I won't eat when I'm stressed out/in the car/after 7PM/etc." Accept from the beginning that you will mess up a few times, but use those mistakes as an opportunity to learn about your unique body and lifestyle, and understand WHY you make the mistakes. Then you can fix them. When you approach weight loss like this, you're setting yourself up for more permanent changes, which will help you not just lose weight but keep it off later.

Maybe you have some fears about losing weight that could be subconsciously causing the bingeing? I know I didn't understand WHY I binged myself back up from 214 to 245 BUT I finally realize I had a lot of fears about being thinner. Fear of male attention, fear of being abused or hurt, fear of not being "me." Working through those issues mentally has helped me a lot! Try to think about if there is a reason you might not be comfortable getting thinner.

You could also say -- No excuse-- Fear of this or that-- does it really work, or matter? Why justify? I'm an old military dog and I'd say-- you messed up. Stop pounding your self and get back on the weight-loss wagon.

Yes, for me it did work and matter. I was on the weight loss wagon for two and a half years.... and out of that time I spent 18 months going up and down from 225 to 235. 18 months is a long time to be counting calories, biking, walking, lifting weights, cooking tons of veggies, etc etc and not lose weight. I would binge twice a month or so, and it kept me stalled. I would cry and be ashamed and wonder what "my problem" was. I kept just "getting on the wagon" for 18 months, never giving up but not losing the weight.

Once I faced my fears I was able to deal with them. For example, I was abused, dragged, carried around, held down and laughed at, and held upside down and my hair used to mop the floor when I weighed 140 pounds. I didn;t realize how profoundly afraid I was that if I lost "too much" weight, someone would be able to do those kinds of things to me again.

I worked through it by making a plan and reasoning with myself. 1) strength training NOW and a plan for self defense classes when I am under 200 pounds; 2) large dog to walk with me and that will bark if someone tries to intrude; 3) empowering myself mentally and emotionally, losing the victim stance and deciding I will not tolerate *any* abuse. And you know what? I am not afraid to lose weight anymore. It has made ALL the difference to me.

Anyway, that's why I suggested it. Not that *everyone* has some underlying fear like that but it CAN be an issue, and there is no sense feeling horrid about ones' self, wondering why you are sabotaging yourself, when in fact you may have an emotional reason that needs to be dealt with.

Focus on how far you have come! I am in the exact same situation as you right now. A couple months ago I got into the 150's.....something I can't say I can EVER remember being (even in middle school when I first started to care I remember being in the 160's)

Since that day a few months ago I went back into the 160's and having been bouncing around 168-163 for the past 2 months! I find that after I meet a goal I'm almost possessed to go out and ruin that success, I can't figure it out for the life of me.

What usually brings me back though is reminding myself where I started. Something in my brain is crossed to where when I gain 2 pounds I have the mindset that I actually gained one hundred, I feel like the world is ending. Not true! Even when I'm not doing great I've made a lot of changes and weightloss is a journey, there's gonna be mountains and valleys otherwise they would call is an express train, and nobody has ever said that!

Take courage, you're doing great!